Page 34 of A Duke to Elude (Sherton Sisters 1)

“And yet, here you still remain.”

Rosabel’s averted profile revealed nothing, but James knew she was troubled by his words. He hadn’t meant them to be hurtful. He wished he could reach for her hand again, but both of hers were tightly clenched in her lap. He would watch them for her reactions. She was clearly agitated even if she hid it well.

“Brixton.” His one-word statement brought her attention back to his face.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You asked where we were going, and I just remembered I didn’t tell you. We’re going to take tea at the inn in Brixton.”

“Because there are no tea shops between here and there?” Her sarcastic tone made him smile.

“Because I know the proprietor there. We shall be able to have a private conversation without compromising you or your reputation.” James glanced behind his shoulder at the lady’s maid. “I suppose you must keep your maid. Do you trust her?”

“Of course, I must keep Sally near me. How else are you to avoid the parson’s mousetrap?” She said it lightly and no doubt meant it in jest, but James had the sudden thought that he wouldn’t mind it so very much. “And also, of course, I trust her implicitly, which is why she is with us.” She paused for a moment before adding, almost as an afterthought, “I suppose I ought to warn you, Sally has been trained by the footmen in all sorts of methods of defence. So, it’s only fair to tell you that if we don’t like the private conversation you wish to have with me, she shall be forced to extract me from the situation.”

James blinked at the pretty woman beside him, for a moment giving no thought to his team of horses as they bowled along swiftly toward their destination. “Did you just threaten me?”

She lifted one shoulder in a dismissive shrug. “Not a threat, Your Grace. I was just telling you the facts. I have accompanied you as you demanded. While, inexplicably, I find that I enjoy your company, I didn’t appreciate being commanded to accompany you at an unusually early hour. And I especially didn’t appreciate your demand to be privy to my thoughts without explanation. So, I am expecting that this private conversation you have arranged will be a true conversation consisting of information being shared and exchanged rather than an interrogation. If you are intending an interrogation, you have most likely wasted your time today, I’m afraid.”

It was the longest string of words he had heard her utter in his presence. His admiration for her rose with nearly every word. She was a formidable young woman. She wanted a quiet life and didn’t seem to like flashy attention. But she was willing to fight for respect and proper treatment. He could respect that. Not that he wanted to tell her very much, but he understood where she was coming from in her sentiment.

“How do you take your tea?” he asked blandly, not bothering to acknowledge her words. Her laughter broke the tension that he had felt emanating from her in increasingly higher levels as she had been speaking. James was mildly thrilled to note that it was true laughter. He had never heard it from her before. It was refreshing and made him grin.

“I am, as you have remarked occasionally, quite strange. I prefer my tea black with one sugar.”

“I suppose, then, that I am just as strange. That is how I prefer it, too.”

She wrinkled her nose at him in the most adorable manner he’d ever seen. “Are you bamming me right now, Your Grace?”

James laughed, both at her question and her use of the cant phrase.

“Why would you suppose I am?”

“It seems like it would be a good method of interrogation to make me comfortable by thinking we have things in common, even if it’s something as mundane as how we take our tea. But the joke will be upon you if that’s not actually how you like it and you have to suffer through an entire pot just to prove your point.”

“Have you always been so suspicious?”

She laughed again. “It’s a fairly recent development,” she admitted. Her apparent good humour made James feel lighter, and he was looking forward to the rest of their excursion even though the subject was unpleasant.

“Back to your previous question, I’m actually serious. I thought I was the only one in all of England who didn’t take my tea with milk. When did you stop taking milk?”

Rosabel offered him a shudder. “The last time I had milk in my tea was when I was about ten or eleven. We were going to take our tea outside. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, quite unusual for our region. My sisters and I were slow to respond to our governess’ call that the tea had been served. Perhaps it was already old, or perhaps we were far longer than we had thought, but the milk had curdled by the time it made its way into my teacup. And for some reason, the governess thought it suitable punishment that we had to drink it for not responding to her calls immediately.”

“Good heavens. But you were children.”

“No, we were young ladies in training, according to her. And young ladies in training are expected to respond to the commands given at any time.”

“She sounds like a sergeant.”

“I think she wished to be,” she agreed with a laugh. “I could never consider milk in my tea again after that. I’m not sure if my sisters got over their aversion or not. I am ashamed to admit that I haven’t really paid attention to how they take it.” She added a sigh at the end. “My efforts at personal growth are rather stunted, aren’t they?”

James chuckled. “I think siblings might be the hardest to consider as real people.”

It was exactly the right thing to say, it would seem. She turned shining eyes of approval upon him, and he basked in the glow of their warmth. For a moment, all was peace between them as the team of horses rapidly ate up the distance between Mayfair and Brixton.

“Do you expect that I shall like your inn?” She finally broke the silence. James was surprised to hear the tentative nature of her question. For the most part the girl seemed so sure of herself; he never expected to hear any evidence of nerves coming from her.

“I expect so. But that could be hubris on my part,” he added with a laugh. “I’m partial to it so, I expect everyone else to be as well.”

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